New Haven Man Sentenced to More Prison Time for Violating Supervised Release

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ERRIE McCLENDON, also known as “Buck,” 32, of New Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 24 months of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on May 11, 2019, New Haven Police received information that an individual was in possession of a firearm in Goffe Street Park in New Haven.  After officers arrived at the park and identified McClendon, a convicted felon, they approached him and instructed him to remove his hand from his sweatshirt pocket.  McClendon then removed a handgun from his pocket and tossed it toward a bystander.  The bystander, refusing to catch the gun, put his hands in the air and the gun fell to the ground.  McClendon then struggled with the officers before he was subdued.  A loaded Ruger, model P85, 9mm pistol with an obliterated serial number, was recovered from the scene.

McClendon pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and, on September 23, 2020, Judge Bryant sentenced him to 41 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release.

McClendon was released from prison in June 2022.

In October 2022, Hamden Police arrested McClendon for assault, threatening, and risk of injury to a minor offenses stemming from a domestic incident in September 2022.  In addition, on multiple occasions between June and December 2022, McClendon tested positive for cocaine and marijuana.  McClendon also violated his supervised release conditions in other ways, including having unauthorized contact with another convicted felon.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Courtney Kaoutzanis.